I heart Darksteel.

Magic Online implemented Darksteel on Monday the 15th of March. My rating was 1720. As of Wednesday, my rating was sitting at a preciously close 1799. I could taste it, this half-baked quest was finally going to end, and I could stop worrying about trying to write new and exciting Limited articles, which is ridiculously hard to do. Limited articles generally fall under one of the following lines: introduction to drafting; I drafted great/awful cards; pick orders; I screwed up my sealed deck build - help me. The dilemma articles are nice, but as we've found out with Mirrodin block moreso than nearly any other Limited format in the past, the pick orders can be drastically reversed depending on what else you have. Trying to make Limited articles to be a good read is really taxing and I'm pretty sure I don't always succeed.

So here I am, a meager one win away from hitting my chosen mark. I'm 20-2 in matches in the new format, and most of my decks have been solid contenders. Then I lost in the first round twice in a @&%(*@&#*ing row, losing ten points each match. So the quest, sadly, continues. Skip to the end of this article for more

As far as my Constructed rating goes, as there are absolutely no open high level events for Constructed, its just a slogging climb upwards sitting at 8 and 16k events. Goblin Bidding has done me quite well as of late, and I truly feel that given enough hate, it can beat out Ravager Affinity on a regular enough basis to win. With that in mind, I've altered the sideboard somewhat to be able to function better against what has clearly become the dominant force in Standard.

The build I had previously was:
4 Naturalize
4 Pyroclasm
4 Terror
1 Pulse of the Forge
1 Obliterate
1 Decree of Annihilation

This has been altered slightly to become the following:
4 Naturalize
4 Smother
3 Pyroclasm
2 Shatter
2 Pulse of the Forge

Also, switch the two Detonates from the maindeck to two Shatters.

Here's the skinny on the changes:

Terror was a nice addition in dealing with random dragons and angels, as well as helping out with the important opposing Siege-Gang Commander, but you want every possible card versus Affinity you can get, and Smother serves double time, since it is very good in the Mirror as well as a spanking against Ravagers.

You lose a fair chunk of smashings against the control matchup, as not only is the loss of Terror a bit annoying, but the two reset buttons were also very good at the paddlings. However, with the results we're seeing worldwide, Ravager Affinity is clearly the most dominant deck. Both the French and Germans Regionals have finished, and roughly half of all the top 8 finishes were Ravager. I'm excluding the recently concluded Hong Kong Regionals for a couple of reasons. 1) The Asians love their Goblins, so they had a larger showing percentage wise than you will find in most other places. 2) They also love pretty random decks, as you can see by the decks. Anyone else remember the Leery Fogbeast in a top 8 last year? Lemme tell you, the Japanese can be innovative at times, but there's a fine line between being slick and being slipped up... I'm sorry, but I can't allow Fogbeast to be given props - he makes baby Jesus cry.

...

Rewind!
So I'm speaking to a bunch of people whom I have at least some degree of respect for over the past week and change. Every single one of them tells me the following: Sparksmith is insane. Add in Sparksmith. So I'm mumbling and grumbling and pondering what to do now. I'm testing out the two Sparksmiths over the Shatters, and I'm seriously considering dropping to twenty-two lands - I'm losing a fair amount of games to manaflood. [Worst plan ever. - Knut] So I want to hear what the forums have to say - Sparksmith or artifact destruction?

I see the following Pros and Cons to each card here:

Sparksmith
Pro

• It is a Goblin - good with Bidding, Warchief, Piledriver, etc.
• Reusable Removal.
• Can kill non-artifact creatures.
• It's a creature, capable of getting in there and taking one for the team.

Con

• Deals you damage - a serious liability vs. the mirror and RavAffinity. Especially if you use it more than once.
• Fragile - dies to every piece of removal possible.
• Can have summoning sickness and make you wait a turn to remove something.
• Doesn't kill non-creature artifacts (Skullclamp, Artifact Lands, Damping Matrix).

Shatter/Detonate/some other artifact removal spell
Pro

• Something like ninety-five percent of the field plays some sort of artifact - Lands, Skullclamp, Matrix, Solemn Simulacrum, so it should never be dead.
• Invulnerable to removal.
• Aside from Detonate, they're generally Instants.

Con

• One shot removal.
• Can't chump block and aside from Detonate again, it can't do damage.

I probably missed something there, so again - post it up on the forums, please.

Getting back to the tale at hand, I'm a bit saddened at how Standard has fallen the past couple of years. The Odyssey era of Tog, U/G, and Wake was a pretty dull time for Standard, Onslaught brought us back the mighty Goblins, and created Slide, but those were all insufficient to deal with the stupidity of those three decks. [Actually, Goblin Bidding was considered by most to be the best aggro deck of last year, while Zombies and R/G Beats were both considered to be very strong. - Knut, helping those with short memories] The Invasion block wasn't too bad, as you had Fires, Snake-Tongue, Opposition, and a good helping of fun rogue decks like Balancing Tings.

Urza's Block post-bannings was quite possibly the best time one could have in Type Two, as you had a number of viable decks, including Replenish, Bargain, Ponza, Accel Blue, The Rock and his Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilions (you know, a real Rock deck, with Phyrexian Plaguelord and Deranged Hermit?), Squirrel Opposition, Pattern/Ghoul, Sexy Rector (U/W Rector Control) and all were completely viable. Even the last Type Two, with the advent of Mirrodin and the exodus of Odyssey Block, brought about a bit of a renaissance in Standard. This shouldn't be any news for you all, but a mere month ago, over half a dozen decks were considered Tier One in Standard. Ranging from MWC decks of various shapes (UrzaTron vs. Cloudpost), R/W Slide, and U/W on the control end of the spectrum to Zombies, Red Deck Wins, and Affinity on the aggro end, you had a wide variety of competitive decks. Now the top tier has been winnowed down to a mere three: Goblins, Ravagers, and R/W.

Cemetery decks and the addition of Damping Matrix to every W/X deck has allowed those who don't want to play either of those three decks a possible chance at stealing matches from the Big Three, but none of them can handle the power of these with any serious consistency. Testing amongst a number of people has shown that there are some good metagame calls out there - Mono-Red can be very good, Damping Matrix is very, very good, etc - there isn't anything that has anything close to a really good matchup against these decks. Someone may come up with something still, but I kind of doubt that anything will crop up that has the serious consistency to hang with the two aggro decks and the one control-style deck that has a moderate chance to win.

I came to face this really quickly; Ravager and Goblins can both just win. It doesn't matter what your hand is sometimes, it will just say"Oops, nuts draw, thanks for coming." Even R/W can't handle the insanity sometimes and just curls up in a little ball to be pummeled like children picking on the slow, fat kid in dodgeball.

Man, I loved dodgeball when I was a kid. I was always good at it - those gymnastics classes when I was a wee lad that my parents took me to paid off greatly when I found that jump-splitting over a dodgeball while putting your body at a near horizontal position relative to the ground meant that there was almost no target for the ball to hit.

So I'm going out on a huge limb here (its a joke, get it?), and am going to say that the vast majority if the top 8 at Regionals will be Ravager and der Gablins. This has already been the case in the completed tournaments (see Germany, France etc), and will undoubtedly continue throughout the conclusion. If nothing else, those are two of the most popular decks and the sheer numbers played can make this psychic prediction come true, even if they weren't the best overall decks in the game.

So my sideboard for Goblins is now some mix of Smother, Dark Banishing, Naturalize, Pulse of the Forge, and Sparksmith. I've got a month before Regionals, so I should be more confident in what is exactly correct by then.

In the meantime, the rating on Magic Online is back to 1799 on the heels of being shipped some incredible goofiness. After getting knocked back down twenty points, I found myself without any Mirrodin packs, so while I idled in the trading post waiting to pick up packs at a decent price, I found myself not drafting in a while. This was alright, as I'd started a new part-time job at Neutral Ground and was doing some work on the side with some friends doing some carpentry. So I was online less, and when I was, I was just selling some cards and taking beats in poker - a nice simple life.

Finally, I got tired of it and sucked it up, bought some packs from someone at a bit higher price than I wanted to pay and went back to the queues. First up was an OLS draft where my third picks (Cruel Revival, Skinthinner, Zombie Cutthroat) were all better than my first picks (Choking Tethers, Willbender, Putrid Raptor - ok maybe the Raptor is better). None of my opponents had very fantastic decks (or played very well), so it was a bit of a walk to get the first place out of this. When I say their decks were bad, I mean my round one opponent had dubs Bonethorn Valesk as his first play of the game - on turn 5. When I say his play was bad, I mean he played Lavamancer's Skill on a Master of the Veil... that already had a Skill on it!

The guy I played in round two had a deck with such hits as Hundroog (go wild, Ferrett) and two Leery Fogbeasts (they keep showing up!). When I talk about bad play, I mean he threw away his freshly played Timberwatch Elf in a chump block on my morph, because he was so scared it was a Skinthinner. He also decided it was worth it to send Wirewood Savage in front of a Vengeful Dead. He did this when he was at thirteen life, and those were his only two creatures on the board. My only other man was a Crypt Sliver who was boarded in to block his ginormous beasts.

When I say bad play, I mean my round three opponent, who threw away all his combat tricks in Aven Liberator and Wingbeat Warrior, hoping to save it with Timberwatch pumps rather than just take a bit of damage (he was also playing G/W, so bleah). Sometimes the draft queues can be as bad as my local Friday Night Magic store. I like the folks there, but with very few exceptions, they have no clue how to draft. Some of them, like this one kid Andrew, who has noticed what is good about the winning decks (mine usually, occasionally a friend who comes and is decent, and also Brian David-Marshall, who popped in one time), and has taken to imitating the good features - last night his deck featured five Chittering Rats (!), four Essence Drain and a number of other good cards, and I think was clearly the best deck in the field, but he was very unlucky against me and got manascrewed. I'm working with some of the folks to try and improve their game - I'm going so far with one kid as to provide him a list of what cards he should draft and what cards are trash. It's kind of frustrating, because you want to play against good people to improve your skills, and instead you're facing people playing Blue with Hoverguard Observer in their sideboard.

For references sake, this kid absolutely loves Blue, so for simplicity's sake, I gave him the list of the following Blue and artifact cards for him to draft. If you, too, are enamored with the Islands, then this list is also for you:

Automatic first picks:
Crystal Shard
Broodstar
Vedalken Archmage

Next Level (these Can be 1st picks, but generally you won't see them later than 4th-6th picks):
Neurok Spy
Looming Hoverguard
Somber Hoverguard
Thirst for Knowledge
Quicksilver Elemental
Lumengrid Augur
Domineer

Very playable (take these around picks 5-10):
Wizard Replica
Aether Spellbomb
Fatespinner
Lumengrid Sentinel
Annul
Thoughtcast
Silver Myr
Regress

Scraping the bottom of the barrel:
Neurok Familiar
Lumengrid Warden
Inertia Bubble
Wanderguard Sentry
Fabricate

Darksteel
#1s:
Hoverguard Observer

Top Picks:
Spire Golem
Neurok Prodigy
Vedalken Engineer
Carry Away
Chromescale Drake
Echoing Truth

Also Playable:
Neurok Transmuter
Psychic Overload

Bottom of the Barrel:
Vex
Last Word (You can take it anyway, cuz it's worth four or five bux)

Artifacts
Top of the line:
Empyrial Plate
Loxodon Warhammer
Oblivion Stone
Platinum Angel

Money Rares (hey they're not the best but they're worth $$) - take em 1st
Solemn Simulacrum
Chrome Mox

Second Tier (these should be picks 1-3)
Mask of Memory
Triskelion
Bonesplitter
Bosh
Clockwork Dragon
Duplicant
Sculpting Steel
Icy Manipulator
Mindslaver
Lightning Greaves
Mirror Golem
Pentavus
Soul Foundry
Viridian Longbow
Leonin Sun Standard
Lodestone Myr

Very Playable (picks 3-7)
Any mana producing Myr
Any Talisman
Altar of Shadows
Cathodion
Banshee's Blade
Goblin Dirigible
Mind's Eye
Myr Enforcer
Pewter Golem
Fireshrieker
Sun Droplet
Leonin Scimitar
Vulshok Battlegear
Dragon Blood
Goblin Charbelcher
Granite Shard
Goblin Replica
Pyrite Spellbomb
Myr Retriever
Nightmare Lash
Scythe of the Wretched
Pearl Shard
Skeleton Shard
Aether Spellbomb

Picks 6-12 (will almost always make the cut, but might also be left in the sideboard):
Any Artifact Land
Nuisance Engine
Clockwork Condor
Clockwork Vorrac
Culling Scales
Frogmite
Goblin War Wagon
Grid Monitor
Hematite Golem
Rustspore Ram
Soldier Replica
Isochron Scepter
Liar's Pendulum
Myr Incubator
Neurok Hoversail
Tooth of Chiss-Goria
Scale of Chiss-Goria
Needlebug
Proteus Staff
Wizard Replica
Nim Replica
Slagwurm Armor

Darksteel
auto picks:
Skullclamp
Arcbound Ravager
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Light and Shadow
Wand of the Elements

$$ rares:
Darksteel Colossus
Blinkmoth Nexus

next level of picks (can be 1st, no later than 5th)
Vulshok Morningstar
Juggernaut
Memnarch
Thunderstaff

picks 3-10:
Specter's Shroud
On color Affinity Golems
Gemini Engine
Talon of Pain
Arcbound Hybrid
Arcbound Stinger
Arcbound Worker
Arcbound Fiend
Arcbound Slith
Arcbound Crusher
Arcbound Bruiser
Arcbound Reclaimer
Spawning Pit
Death-Mask Duplicant
Leonin Bola
Darksteel Ingot
Heartseeker

Last rung of the ladder:
Whispersilk Cloak
Sundering Titan
Auriok Siege Sled
Darksteel Brute
Arcbound Overseer
Darksteel Pendant
Arcane Spyglass
Panoptic Mirror
Sundering Titan
Thought Dissector
Aether Vial
Ur-Golem's Eye

A couple of those are up for debate, and that's fine. Mask of Memory can be considered an auto first pick, but that's dicey - I can think of a dozen or so cards I'll take over it (for the record, Shrapnel Blast, Grab the Reins, Loxodon Warhammer, Broodstar, Oblivion Stone, Empyrial Plate, Crystal Shard, Molder Slug, Arc-Slogger, Troll Ascetic, Platinum Angel, Chrome Mox if it isn't a team draft, possibly Leonin Abunas). Leonin Bola may be better than that, Spawning Pit may be worse, but this is a pretty good list to go by, especially if you're still finding your way around drafts.

Speaking of drafts, the way I reached 1800 on Magic Online was quite honestly one of the weirdest things I've had happen to me playing Magic. I was at 1799 again and decided to do a draft walkthrough, so I have pics of every pick. However... well, I'll tell you after the walkthrough. Scroll down a few pages if you want to know how it ended up.

For those interested, here is the walkthrough

Pack 1, Pick 1
Spellweaver Helix, Cathodion, Woebearer, Fireshrieker, Terror, Vault of Whispers, Goblin War Wagon, Nim Shrieker, Aether Spellbomb, Wail of the Nim, Leonin Elder, Incite War, Frogmite, Disarm, Viridian Joiner

I was torn between the Terror and the Fireshrieker, but I went with the removal spell, with the idea that I should be able to pick up enough playable equipment that the Shrieker would be irrelevant.

P1, P2
Vermiculos, Leonin Bladetrap, Slith Predator, Electrostatic Bolt, Seat of the Synod, Goblin Replica, Thoughtcast, Leonin Scimitar, Dross Scorpion, Tel-Jilad Exile, Dross Prowler, Myr Adapter, Blinding Beam, Seething Song

Woot! - two solid removal spells in my two favorite colors. Not much else to say here, this is a pretty clear pick.

P1, P3
Lumengrid Augur, Dead-Iron Sledge, Soul Nova, Rust Elemental, Loxodon Mender, Contaminated Bond, Clockwork Beetle, Slagwurm Armor, Aether Spellbomb, Krark-Clan Grunt, Nim Replica, Annul, Vault of Whispers

What an underwhelming pack. Looking at this pack, I want to try and cut off a color so that I can get the hookups in the next pack. The Replica isn't exactly a signal, but the Grunt is pretty playable and the only other Red card I've passed was a Goblin Replica compared to another Aether Spellbomb and a Thoughtcast in Blue and a Blinding Beam in White.

P1, P4
Psychic Membrane, Duskworker, Tanglebloom, Goblin Striker, Necrogen Spellbomb, Tel-Jilad Exile, Lifespark Spellbomb, Regress, Fangren Hunter, Malachite Golem, Alpha Myr, Tree of Tales

Another sad sack of a pack. Duskworker and the Myr are both very sketchy and might not make the cut, so I don't want to waste a high pick on them. Fangren Hunter may be a pretty good signal to hit up Green, and even if I end up not running it, its a good card out of the draft pool that isn't in someone else's deck.

P1, P5
Detonate, Auriok Bladewarden, Necrogen Spellbomb, Chimney Imp, Vorrac Battlehorns, Welding Jar, Leonin Den-Guard, Vulshok Berserker, Soldier Replica, Seat of the Synod, Ancient Den

Niiiice! Solid artifact removal in a main color I want to go into. I'm also setting the person to my left into White with a bunch of clear signals.

P1, P6
Synod Sanctum, Galvanic Key, Clockwork Condor, Awe Strike, Dross Prowler, Dross Scorpion, Inertia Bubble, Pewter Golem, Iron Myr, Tree of Tales

Go on-color Myr! I'm happy.

P1, P7
Mass Hysteria, Myr Prototype, Blinkmoth Well, Slith Strider, Groffskithur, Clockwork Beetle, Welding Jar, Titanium Golem, Ancient Den

Yeah, well, I wasn't really planning on running it. Shut up, go away, I caaaaaannnnnn'ttttttt hhhhhhheeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr yyyyyyyyyoooooooooooouuuuuuuuuu.

P1, P8
Nuisance Engine, Disarm, Omega Myr, Nim Lasher, Sunbeam Spellbomb, Soldier Replica, Great Furnace, Moriok Scavenger

I kind of wanted to take the Lasher, but I only had one artifact at this point and as I had a K.C. Grunt already, I wanted something potentially useful. Even if I don't end up playing this, it is a fine hate draft from whatever Affinity player is in town.

P1, P9
Woebearer, Disarm, Incite War, Leonin Elder, Wail of the Nim, Goblin War Wagon, Vault of Whispers

Not the best man, but a colorless Hill Giant nonetheless. Not terribly exciting.

P1, P10
Leonin Bladetrap, Seething Song, Myr Adapter, Dross Prowler, Dross Scorpion, Seat of the Synod

Hatedraft - I shipped an early Frogmite and a Thoughtcast and neither made it back, so if there is nothing for my deck and nothing that will send a bad signal, I'll just take the best card in the pack.

P1, P11
Dead-Iron Sledge, Loxodon Mender, Clockwork Beetle, Slagwurm Armor, Vault of Whispers

Looking back on it, I kind of wish that the Armor made its way into my pile. If there was a lash drafter to my left, I just gave him a beautiful synergistic card that makes Lasher nearly unkillable.

P1, P12
Tanglebloom, Goblin Striker, Malachite Golem, Tree of Tales

Mise well continue the artifact land rainbow theme.

P1, P13
Vorrac Battlehorns, Welding Jar, Soldier Replica

No way is someone getting this guy 14th/15th pick.

P1, P14
Dross Scorpion, Galvanic Key

Hi.

P1, P15
Groajskfhaskfjhkjitur

Yep.

P2, P1
Sword of Kaldra, Leonin Skyhunter, Lightning Greaves, Looming Hoverguard, Molten Rain, Clockwork Condor, Galvanic Key, Vulshok Gauntlets, Lumengrid Warden, Predator's Strike, Neurok Hoversail, Neurok Spy, Scale of Chiss-Goria, Deconstruct, Leaden Myr

What a solid pack. Eight good picks, plus several playable, if sometimes janky spells like the Sail, Scale, Warden, Condor and Gauntlets. I should be getting two playables out of this pack. Sword has about the same relative speed as your seventeen-year-old dog that lost his leg - that is to say none. Greaves, however, isn't exactly a greyhound, but is still pretty feisty, and definitely a plus in any deck I want.

P2, P2
Spellweaver Helix, Mindstorm Crown, Forge Armor, Altar's Light, Contaminated Bond, Tanglebloom, Battlegrowth, Loxodon Mender, Yotian Soldier, Spikeshot Goblin, Hematite Golem, Skyhunter Cub, Alpha Myr, Wizard Replica

Not an awful pack at all. I'm not really sure what common he took over Spikey, I don't recognize this run as having Bonesplitter... Maybe a Somber Hoverguard or a Myr Enforcer?

P2, P3
Grab the Reins, Scrabbling Claws, Roar of the Kha, Neurok Familiar, Seething Song, Override, Krark-Clan Shaman, Viridian Longbow, Consume Spirit, Tel-Jilad Chosen, Elf Replica, Pyrite Spellbomb, Chromatic Sphere

Hold the phone, what? Mise infy tight gassy btings. Rare missing... and a common? What in the world do you take over Grab? It's Splashable!

P2, P4
Nim Shambler, Sun Droplet, Pearl Shard, Chimney Imp, Turn to Dust, Wanderguard Sentry, Fists of the Anvil, Lifespark Spellbomb, Spikeshot Goblin, Razor Barrier, Elf Replica, Wizard Replica

Good gravy, does cutting off colors work every now and then. My deck is now about ten times better than it was out of pack one.

P2, P5
Nightmare Lash, Talisman of Dominance (B/U), Brown Ouphe, Relic Bane, Viridian Joiner, Dream's Grip, Leonin Elder, Yotian Solder, Wail of the Nim, Pyrite Spellbomb, Electrostatic Bolt

'Scuse me, I have to go change my pants now.

P2, P6
Rustspore Ram, Tel-Jilad Stylus, Molten Rain, Loxodon Mender, Journey to Discovery, Lumengrid Warden, Predator's Strike, Malachite Golem, Leaden Myr, Deconstruct

Wheeeee, more removal.

P2, P7
Serum Tank, Bloodscent, Sphere of Purity, Myr Adapter, Incite War, Steel Wall, Cobalt Golem, Vulshok Berserker, Gold Myr

My love for you... berseeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrker. Firetruck? Making F*$k? Could also have been the Myr, no biggie, though.

P2, P8
Culling Scales, Sylvan Scrying, Iron Myr, Razor Barrier, Battlegrowth, Nim Lasher, Omega Myr, Turn to Dust

I was about to take the Scales when I noticed an on-color Myr still in the pack. Mise. Scales is probably at its best in G/R where you have a bunch of fat dudes that sit tight while the Scales picks off opponent's Myr and Equipment. I had a lot of game late, however, and wasn't really worried about anything other than manascrew.

P2, P9
Molten Rain, Loxodon Mender, Vulshok Gauntlets, Lumengrid Warden, Predator's Strike, Neurok Hoversail, Leaden Myr

"I should be getting two playables out of this pack." Indeedy-do. What was that about manascrew? Makes that Terror I took early look better, too.

P2, P10
Spellweaver Helix, Mindstorm Crown, Forge Armor, Tanglebloom, Battlegrowth, Loxodon Mender

I wanted this to a) make Spikeshot bigger b) be a cheap combat trick - unlike the surprisingly not-bad Forge.

P2, P11
Scrabbling Claws, Seething Song, Override, Krark-Clan Shaman, Elf Replica

I always like having one of these guys to handle the random Arrests, Carry Aways, Domineers, and Inertia Bubbles that one runs into.

P2, P12
Nim Shambler, Turn to Dust, Fists of the Anvil, Elf Replica

I guess the guy to my left isn't Lashdrafting. I'll take it out of the pool just in case. Two Elf Replicas is also pushing it.

P2, P13
Brown Ouphe, Yotian Soldier, Wail of the Nim

I probably shouldn't have taken the Toy Soldier over the Wail, but its pretty obvious that no one around me is in Black, so I don't have to fear the Wail much.

P2, P14
Molten Rain, Lumengrid Warden

Anyhow.

P2, P15
Sphere of Purity

Agreed.

P3, P1
Spellbinder, Murderous Spoils, Skullclamp, Karstoderm, Arcbound Hybrid, Hunger of the Nim, Leonin Bola, Nourish, Machinate, Darksteel Pendant, Grimclaw Bats, Tel-Jilad Outriders, Oxidda Golem, Echoing Ruin, Loxodon Mystic

Insert overused Magic slang signifying something great happened. Also, how lucky.

P3, P2
Dragon's Claw, Test of Faith, Death-Mask Duplicant, Echoing Courage, Ur-Golem's Eye, Vex, Crazed Goblin, Darksteel Citadel, Dross Golem, Echoing Truth, Echoing Ruin, Arcbound Bruiser, Grimclaw Bats, Tel-Jilad Wolf

Even more removal! Looking at my picked cards for a moment, so far I've got Detonate, Terror, 2 Bolts, 2 Spikeshots, Grab the Reins, Deconstruct, and now the Ruin. Niiiice.

P3, P3
Specter's Shroud, Neurok Transmuter, Inflame, Arcbound Hybrid, Hallow, Burden of Greed, Myr Moonvessel, Arcbound Worker, Reap and Sow, Neurok Prodigy, Razor Golem, Auriok Glaivemaster, Essence Drain

Man, I wish I'd have been in R/W instead of G. The deck would have been even nuttier. Oh well, cheap playable men with a nice, modular ability are always good in my book.

P3, P4
Synod Artificer, Leonin Battlemage, Mirrodin's Core, Voltaic Construct, Myr Landshaper, Magnetic Flux, Drooling Ogre, Echoing Calm, Darksteel Ingot, Loxodon Mystic, Vedalken Engineer, Unforge

What was that about wishing I'd been in White? Sigh. I took the Core to make Terror a bit better and to smooth out problems with both double Green and double Red cards. It's also playable in Constructed, so who am I to turn away a buck?

P3, P5
Soulscour, Death-Mask Duplicant, Magnetic Flux, Crazed Goblin, Metal Fatigue, Whispersilk Cloak, Pteron Ghost, Echoing Decay, Neurok Prodigy, Krark-Clan Stoker, Darksteel Pendant

Mmmmmmmmmmm, cookie monster like.

P3, P6
Second Sight, Coretapper, Hunger of the Nim, Myr Moonvessel, Viridian Acolyte, Machinate, Whispersilk Cloak, Tangle Spider, Oxidda Golem, Pteron Ghost

P3, P7
Wirefly Hive, Dragon's Claw, Myr Landshaper, Hallow, Darksteel Citadel, Scavenging Scarab, Echoing Courage, Ritual of Restoration, Quicksilver Behemoth

I don't know if I'll be playing it, but I am having impure thoughts about playing this when I have both Spikeshots on the table. It will probably make the cut. Sorry, Potato, Hive is awful, you are insanely lucky.

P3, P8
Geth's Grimoire, Echoing Calm, Drill-Skimmer, Burden of Greed, Viridian Acolyte, Arcane Spyglass, Auriok Glaivemaster, Reap and Sow

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmen.

P3, P9
Spellbinder, Hunger of the Nim, Leonin Bola, Nourish, Machinate, Darksteel Pendant, Tel-Jilad Outrider

Okay, so I raredrafted one. I had a bunch of people asking me about it in trades, so why not. I probably should have taken the Ebola virus before it spr